


I Will Always Find You

by Shatterpath



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Animals, Alternate Universe - Crack, Fluff and Crack, Gen, OT3, Tumblr Prompt, Writing Exercise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-29 11:41:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6373372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shatterpath/pseuds/Shatterpath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>otpprompts: Person A is a cat and person B is a dog. Write your OTP as pets forced to share the same human.<br/>minerfromtarn: @cblgblog @shatterpath A and B are steggy and the human is Angie.<br/>shatterpath: MINDREADER!!! (And ironically? I read this while my cat was sprawled across my desk.)</p><p>From this exchange on Tumblr came...</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Will Always Find You

As the biggest, meanest cat in the neighborhood, Peggy relished her position at the top of the local hierarchy. If another animal crossed her she was more than happy to take it on with tooth and claw

Her mother had been as royalty among their kind, a classic beauty with fiery copper eyes and fur of such a shadowy grey-blue as to rival the evening itself. No wonder her father had been smitten. He was a handsome tabby in brown and cream, with a great silky coat and golden eyes as bright as the sun. He was also the largest cat anyone in their neighborhood had ever seen. From them came two handsome children, shaggy gray-brown with the hint of stripes in their shadows, as playful and quick as they were smart.

Michael and Peggy were inseparable from the start, cavorting and playing in the gardens, soaking up sunshine and darkness with equal joy. But it was not meant to last, for maturity began to change them and one night, Michael never returned from his restless wanderings. And Peggy never recovered from the loss of her beloved brother and playmate. Be it a dog, a fox or one of the human's machines of terror, Peggy didn't care, she was at war with the whole world.

It came to a head one day after Peggy had trashed old man Phillip's hanging laundry and then violently scratched his hand when he tried to stop her. Normally, she liked the old man, as close to an owner as she would accept, but she had not managed to stop her own violence. After that, she felt badly enough to allow herself to courted by the old man into staying around. Besides the food was good and the warmth of the hearth sublime as fall approached. She could still wander and see her friends, cow her enemies and keep her neighborhood as safe as it could be. New menaces moved in and things grew dangerous, her constant wounds more serious, her skills deadlier.

Then Steve arrived. 

Phillips didn't know what to do with the scrawny pup any more than she did, but he couldn't turn the lad away. Blonde with a white belly, he was as handsome and sweet as he was scrawny and gangly. Peggy took great pleasure in teaching him the ropes, even as he steadily outgrew her. It was worth it for their adventures, to cuddle with him before the warm fire and trade kisses. 

But he too didn't come home one night and she swore she would never love again.

Being placed in a travel crate after a last loving pet from Phillips was almost a relief. She was sent away, passed through countless stranger's hands, jabbed with needles and finally locked in a close, dark space that moved and shook and screamed around her while her head and heart ached. When light flooded into the space again, the air smelled different, colder and sharper. She was moved again, more strangers handling her crate until she was piled with other animals to await their fate. Some time passed, fresh water being put in the ridiculous bottle she had to lick to sate her thirst, kibble sent through the bars to collect in the little cup connected there.

Then she was grabbed once more, thumped down onto a counter to look out over a room where people stood and sat about looking bored and harried by turns. Suddenly a person loomed large, stooping a bit to look into her crate.

"Hi there, Peggy, I'm Angie. Wow, you're even prettier in person and Chester wasn't kidding about you being a big girl."

Intrigued by the woman's kind tone, Peggy crept to the bars to try and catch a better look at this Angie when she leaned away and spoke to someone. Then, at long last, she was picked up and carried, Angie clearly struggling with the big crate, particularly as the winter wind whipped across them both. Then a car, the door closing off the icy cold and blessed quiet falling, to only be interrupted briefly by Angie joining her to drive them off to whatever adventure might wait. 

Now, Peggy might have been the biggest, meanest cat in her old neighborhood, but right now she was just exhausted and desperately lonely and this stranger drew her in. Music played quietly and the drive was smooth, coaxing Peggy to the bars to look around, watching Angie pay attention to whatever was going around them. Women were barely familiar to her, having never spent any significant time with one, but she liked this one so far. So she meowed sweetly, making Angie smile, and even reached through the bars to touch her arm, careful to use no claws.

"Pleased to meet you too, Peggy."

Her den was not so different from Phillips' home, but the smells were completely foreign. Old animal smells lingered amidst Angie's scents and Peggy soaked them up even as the crate door mercifully swung open at last. Dishes of water and food clicked to the floor, and something that smelled wonderfully of roasted chicken.

"You rest, okay Sweetie? I'll see you in the morning."

And she was left in blissful silence at last. When she crept out, one of the dishes had broth in it, sating taste and thirst and encouraging her to crunch at the familiar little biscuits before nosing about the room. Outside the window was a landscape of snow and Peggy was quite happy to find a cozy spot to curl up in and rest her weary bones. If she never experienced cold again, she would be all to happy. It was miserable stuff and her first winter had taken her brother from her and her second had taken her beloved Steve.

Life with Angie was easy and comfortable and loving. There was always a pet and things to play with and little nibbles of special treats of meats and licking silverware and plates. When Angie was home, she talked and sang and danced and would toss little toys and crinkly balls of paper and allow herself to be sprawled upon endlessly. 

Eventually, the weather began to warm and Peggy was allowed outdoors, but she found no love in it any longer. The grass and trees and dark spaces beneath cars were to much a memory of those she had lost. Angie's snug home and the woman's beloved company were more than enough. However, a sunny spot on the porch was not to be passed up and was made all the better by a thick blanket left out by her human. It was there she rested after an exhausting afternoon of grooming out her shedding coat when a car arrived, to Angie's excitement. Unconcerned with the comings and goings of other humans, Peggy didn't even raise her head.

Until there was a note of urgency in the humans, Angie shouting and a dog barking.

Wait… she knew that voice.

The blur of yellow and white so startled her that Peggy shot straight up, hissing and spitting like a demon while the dog flattened and whined piteously, his whole body shaking with excitement. It was her Steve, he smelled the same, even as he had grown even more enormous, his face scarred. He was ecstatic, waiting impatiently until she went to him to sniff him over, lick his face, butt her head against his. She was so happy to see him in fact, that she even let him slobber all over her face in his gleeful eagerness. 

Winter was over and her beloved companion had been returned to her, whole and healthy. Calm and adoring, Angie knelt beside them, stroking both and speaking quietly. "I'm so glad you two found each other again. Welcome home."

Once again grass and trees and the dark spaces beneath cars became a joy, so long as they were together. The hearth was once again their favorite spot, unless they could find a patch of sunshine or sprawl all over Angie, nearly suffocating her beneath their bulks. To which she only chuckled and pet them, doled out sweet kisses and affection.

Winters were never hard after that.

**Author's Note:**

> Utter crack, and yet, I find myself sorta liking it.
> 
> Written in less that two hours on Easter Sunday.


End file.
